A planned proposal for an addendum to Russellville’s contract with trash service company Waste Management would reduce the responsibility on the company’s customers, according to an alderman pushing for the changes.

Alderman Martin Irwin, who served on the city council’s Solid Waste Advisory Board, said upon reviewing the city’s contract with Waste Management, the board identified two issues between customers and company — payment for trash service to unoccupied dwellings and the level of accountability a customer is held to regarding their trash bins.

Irwin said the current contract requires homeowners who pay for water service but don’t produce trash or recyclables — such as those looking to sell a home but aren’t living in it — are still required to pay for pick-up service regardless of the service’s use.

“Repeatedly, there were vacant houses where there was water to the meter and [the homeowners] were being billed for monthly pick-up, and there was no trash or recyclables being generated,” he said.

Irwin said the current contract, which was signed in 2008 and enacted in October 2009, deems single-dwelling Waste Management customers responsible for their two trash bins, requiring them to pay out of pocket for damaged or stolen bins. The proposed addendum, Irwin said, will request that customers only be responsible for negligent activity toward the cans, such as damage incurred from improper care like leaving them in the street.

“What we want to do is amend the contract to specify the certain circumstances in which customers are not responsible for those cans,” Irwin said. “Once reasonable care is taken, which would amount to taking them to the street and removing them from the street in the same day that pickup occurs ... then given that action, theft, vandalism or acts of nature that damage or destroy a cart, or in the case of stolen carts that cause them to disappear, then customers shouldn’t be responsible for that.”

Irwin added the $50 fee to replace a Waste Management bin would have a much less impact on the solid waste company than its customers.

“It’s not that big of a deal to Waste Management to have to absorb the cost of a can or two, but for a retired person on a fixed income, it could be a major deal,” he said. “ Or for a struggling family, $50 might be the difference of paying your rent or utilities or groceries, and that shouldn’t be automatically heaped on the customer when they have nothing to do with whatever has occurred with the cans.”

Waste Management would be in charge of determining whether damage to the bins is due to negligence or factors out of the customer’s control, Irwin said.

Irwin said he expects a letter with the proposed changes to be ready by the end of the week, and the addendum ready for council input and approval by next Thursday’s city council meeting.

“If we have one household that has to pay for a can that they played no part in its destruction or its loss, that’s too many,” he said. If there’s one vacant house in Russellville that’s being billed for trash that’s not being generated, that’s too many.”

Lannis Nicholson, Russellville site manager for Waste Management, said whatever recommendation the council makes to the contract, if any, will be forwarded to the company’s contracts department to be evaluated.

“They’ll make sure that everything they’re asking is reasonable and things like that,” Nicholson said. “And we want to work with them and if it’s something that’s going to be better for the residents and makes sense, then we’ll definitely address it.”